Entity

Carla Moran is violently raped by a seemingly invisible force. She tried to tell the people around her about what has happened but finds only resistance as her family and friends don't believe her as she didn't see who assaulted her especially when she says that her house was locked up when it happened and the assailant seemingly vanished into thin air.

Frank De Felitta's bestselling book based on a true story (the case of Doris Bither) translates very well to the big screen with Barbara Hershey cast as Carla doing a phenomenal job in invoking the terror of a woman going through something very real but undertaken by someone or something very unreal. Apparently Bette Midler, Sally Field, Jane Fonda and Jill Clayburgh were all offered the role but declined.

Sidney J. Furie's film stands alone as a one-off film of a one-off case that most people will have thought of as too much of a tall story to be true.

Carla not being believed can also be seen as an allegory of something that far too many women (and men) go through when they find the courage and strength to report a rape or sexual assault- that their horror isn't over yet as they try to seek justice whilst being met with an unfeeling and cruel judicial system that views their account with scepticism and disbelief. If it actually makes it to a court of law they will be made to relive their trauma. Those opposing them will try to disprove and belittle the magnitude of what they've been through. Or they will try to convince a jury that it didn't happen at all.

The film all too harrowingly shows the full horror of what Carla goes through when she is raped and does a great job of showing the trail of very disturbing signs when the spirit or entity is approaching (objects shaking, a certain odour that permeates the surroundings Moran is in, a very sudden drop in temperature). Hershey's performance, just like the film in general, never slides into TV movie melodramatics or sensationalism.

There needs to be special mention to Charles Bernstein's insistent, pulsating and truly shocking score that is perfect for the movie and it's subject matter. There are also echoes of the music he would write three years later for a new film called A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Also the special effects for the scenes in which Moran is molested by the invisible force are very effective indeed. For one sequence a body cast of Hershey was made that was manipulated by currents of air to make it look like the invisible entity was touching her. It succeeds eerily well. Stan Winston supervised the practical effects.

The effects also come into their own when Carla meets professionals who actually believe her story and work in the field of parapsychology. But to tell you more about this would make me tiptoe into spoiler territory...

When the film opened it was met with protests from those who thought that such a film was exploiting such a serious topic as rape. Hershey actually defended this claim and voiced that herself and the filmmakers had actually worked hard not to make the film exploitative and to display the true horror of sexual assault and rape.

All in all a terrifying film that still feels underrated and excluded from serious writings regarding 80's horror.

"The Entity" is a well made horror film about a supernatural phenomenon tormenting a woman by sexually attacking her repeatedly. The thing that strikes me interesting about this movie is that it's supposedly based on fact! Barbara Hershey gives a very strong performance as Carla Moran, the woman who one night has her life turned upside down when she's raped by an unseen mass. And this invisible visitor has no intentions of leaving her alone! She seeks help first from a psychiatrist (played by Ron Silver) who she feels ain't helping her. Then she runs into a group of parapsychologists who think have a solution to get rid of this entity. "The Entity" is quite scary in certain spots helped occasionally by an eerie and overbearing music score. There are some scenes that are kind of laughable, but for me "The Entity" provided more scares than laughs. Hershey gives a terrific performance in an early film role that could have been demeaning but isn't. The nude scenes are either the use of a body double or a make-up puppet. And when you watch this scenes, you can see it can't be Hershey's body your looking at. "The Entity" has a few silly moments, but all-in-all it's an effective horror film.

*** (out of four)

I remember seeing this movie for the first time when I was 12 years old and being scarred wittless. While wandering through the video store recently I decided to rewatch this movie, to see if the intervening years had dulled the edge on this movie. Not only was I surprised that I still liked this movie, I was more surprised at how effective the film is on so many different levels. "The Entity" works as a horror film - no question. But, it's one of the rare instances in horror where you actually feel the anguish the main character is going through and truly care about the outcome of the character, not just when is "it" going to strike again. For anyone that wants to see a great horror movie that is usually overlooked in the "best of" lists, this is definitely it.

I never heard about the case before (and I'm too lazy to do further research) but if this story, like it claims, is indeed based on factual events, then it really is one of the greatest supernatural mysteries in the history of mankind! Barbara Hershey stars, in what unquestionably is the role of her life, as the struggling mother of three children who gets (sexually) assaulted – repeatedly – by an invisible spirit everywhere she goes. The inexplicable attacks naturally affect Carla's social life and pretty soon her sanity as well. When seeking for help, Carla becomes the desired study-object of scientists in several different branches, but none of them really cares for the woman's growing agony, since they're all defending their own obnoxious "theories". The theme and background of this remarkable film are a bit similar to Steven Spielberg's blockbuster "Poltergeist", but that's pretty much where the comparison stops. The supernatural "horror" in Poltergeist is childish nonsense compared to the genuinely devastating and often disturbing footage featuring in this film by Sidney J. Furie. The scenes in which Hershey's character is defenselessly thrown around the room are truly rough and the sight of her being raped by something you cannot see makes you feel very, VERY uncomfortable. Despite the sleazy-sounding premise that, in the hands of other directors, easily could have resulted in an overly exploitative and graphic picture, "The Entity" is very suspenseful and compelling. I'm not even sure this movie fully qualifies as horror, as it feels a lot more like psychological drama and – at times – even like a portrait of pure feminist power. Carla Moran is such a strong woman and determined to survive this nightmare, whereas all the male characters in the story are either stubborn egoists or insensitive bastards. Their insufferable personalities are brilliantly illustrated by the camera's reluctance to picture them! The male characters in "The Entity" are often just voices off the screen or partial faces in sequences dominated by Barbara Hershey's image, which is a really efficient trick actually. You can't possibly develop sympathy or respect for someone you can't initially see and, by the time they fully appear on screen, it's too late already. The film delivers great shocks, surprises, uncanny music and special effects and the wholesome is overall very tense. Whether truthful or not, the screenplay approaches the bizarre supernatural events with great respect and inserts absolutely no humorist situations or satirical disbelief. It's a little hard to stomach sometimes and two hours of intense substance like this perhaps is too long, still, it's an impressive piece of 80's cinema.

'The Entity' is a disturbing account of what are supposed to be true events, obviously they are the usual dramatisation's and alterations to the plot to heighten the viewing experience, but it's still a damn good film.

Barbara Hershey gives the performance of her life as the frightened character of Carla, who grows and evolves as the film moves forward. She is adequately supported by the rest of the cast who all play likable characters, except for the doctor; he just becomes annoying and ultimately ends up looking very stupid.

Unfortunately the special effects have not withstood the test of time very well, they aren't laughably bad by any stretch of the imagination, but they really do look pretty tired now.

Overall 'The Entity' is an under-rated film that is actually one of the best horror movies of the 80's. It has great tension that starts right from the word 'action', it successfully grabs your attention and doesn't let you go and it's very graphic and disturbing in the way a horror movie should be.

8/10 brilliant supernatural Horror